My experience using a tire groover on 37" MAXXIS Trepadors

Video basically says it all. I modified my MAXXIS Trepadors with some tire grooving/Siping for improved winter performance. I think I can call this successful, but unfortunately we've had such a mild winter I have had limited opportunities to properly test or quantify the improvement.

Additionally, due to this mild winter, there has been little need for improved winter performance. So, I am not confident I can really say the juice was worth the squeeze. Regardless, it was an interesting and rewarding project!



Pics to follow:

Stuggling to add photos... Most of its covered in the video. Heres another picture of the grooves doing their job.



The number 2 (pack of three), number 3 and number 4 tools side by side.

interesting video...I always worried that the siping and grooving would throw the ballance outta wack...? looks like a great solution for tires partially worn out!

I grooved my Badaks. Can't say I noticed any difference and it takes a bit of elbow grease.

Eskimos have 47 different words for snow...

Looks great! Are they a little bit quieter?

BigMeatsBronco said:

interesting video...I always worried that the siping and grooving would throw the ballance outta wack...? looks like a great solution for tires partially worn out!

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I use balance beads, big fan. They aren't perfect, but give you a decent balance for the life of the tire, regardless of chunking. I think they are a great option for largish tires that see abuse.

UNBROKN said:

Looks great! Are they a little bit quieter?

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You know, I cant say I could tell any difference there. The Treps were never a quiet tire by general standards, but in my opinion they are extremely quite by dedicated mud tire standards. Some of those can get quite terrible.

I loved my 37 Trepadors as well, great tires overall.

With the capability of computers to do modeling and simulation for tire design, I wouldn't feel confident that I could improve upon what was already designed and tested by the manufacturer.

timhood said:

With the capability of computers to do modeling and simulation for tire design, I wouldn't feel confident that I could improve upon what was already designed and tested by the manufacturer.

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This is true, thats the primary reason I basically copied the OEM pattern with slight augmentation. I cannot argue that I improved the design as a mud tire, only that I gained some small performance in the snow, which the tire designers were not trying to design towards in the first place. It's still an excellent tire that I recommend.

Oh, I went down this rabbit hole a while back. Seems like there's a whole lot of conflicting info on the efficacy of siping. Most manufacturers and tire dealerships don't agree with it while some guys swear by it. But shaping/shaving tires for a specific purpose absolutely has its place. Interesting to see how easy it is to re-groove a tire and make it look nice and factory though.

Tex said:

Oh, I went down this rabbit hole a while back. Seems like there's a whole lot of conflicting info on the efficacy of siping. Most manufacturers and tire dealerships don't agree with it while some guys swear by it. But shaping/shaving tires for a specific purpose absolutely has its place. Interesting to see how easy it is to re-groove a tire and make it look nice and factory though.

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I agree, I think generally you should just buy the tire for its intended use, siping will never make up for factory design or compound, but in this case I wanted the steer the performance a tiny bit towards the snow, and I think it was moderately successful.